. . . a thrilling mix of Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt. There's an energy and excitement about it that only a sensational live recording can deliver.

Record Review /
FS,
Sun / 06. July 2012

. . . a guaranteed chart-topper . . . there's an admirable lightness of touch and appreciation of rhythmic flow to her "Für Elise", and her negotiation of Liszt's "Un Sospiro" is captivating . . .

Record Review /
Andy Gill,
Independent (London) / 07. July 2012

The most natural efforts emanate from Lisitsa's Russian forebears Rachmaninov and Scriabin. Alternately martial and erotic or some alchemy thereof, the preludes and poems project a ravishing palette and sense of interior space. Liszt, too, adds sheer bravura in "La Campanella" and later suave seduction in "Un Sospiro" . . . Her Chopin conveys power and poise and poetry. The three nocturnes urge opposing and complementary elements from Lisitsa, in terms of dynamic and dramatic suppleness of motion and liquid refinement.

Lisitsa emerges as a hugely confident and spontaneous performer. There's grace in her turns of phrase and relish in her sense of rhetoric; inner voices are often allowed to shine, and there can be lightness in her touch -- the Rachmaninov G minor Prelude has a delicious bounce to it and Liszt's "Un sospiro" sweeps and glints to the manner born.

About the Album

VALENTINA LISITSA, THE “YOUTUBE PIANIST”, GOES VIRAL, THEN DIGITAL AND NOW GETS PHYSICAL

Valentina Lisitsa, the virtuoso pianist and global internet phenomenon – whose YouTube channel has attracted over 44 million views, making her by far the most watched classical pianist in history – made her much-anticipated solo recital debut before an enraptured audience at London’s 5,000-seater Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday 19 June.

Streamed live on YouTube, her two-and-a-half-hour concert of mainly romantic repertoire – chosen by her loyal fans themselves in an online poll – received an incredible 74,329 views during its initial live screening and subsequent extended availability as a YouTube Video On Demand, while some 6,000 comments have been posted on her YouTube channel to date. In response to such huge demand, the live video of the concert will now be re-posted for a limited-period “encore” showing on YouTube this weekend.

Recorded live at the concert and already rush-released as a digital album available on iTunes in the new high-resolution “Mastered for iTunes” format, Decca’s Valentina Lisitsa: Live at the Royal Albert Hall has been released as a physical CD on Monday 9 July, with a DVD of the concert following on Monday 30 July (already available for pre-order at Amazon).

After the concert itself, The Telegraph’s chief music critic Ivan Hewett enthused: “Lisitsa is a serious artist … Her essential attribute is a fevered urgency, an almost desperate desire to suck the expressive marrow from a piece. Joined to her iron-clad technique (Lisitsa is no wunderkind – she’s now 39, and has been practising hard since she was three), this often engendered a huge emotional charge … At the other end of the scale, the middle movement of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata was beautifully remote and poised, as if made from porcelain.”